BMW E36 Forum

Hi guys , basically ave just bought maself a nice 318 as a possible track car , not be used on the road much , anyway a bought it as a non runner , very cheap , ignition barrel f**ked , the guy a bought it off said it was fine till the key kept turning one day , he tried fixing it and a think he just made it worse , as he's took it all apart , well as it stands the car doesnt start , it goes thru all the stages to start just doesnt turn over , all the lights com on the guages and so on , ave done sum reading and a believe a cant just replace the ignition barrel and key with another as they are coded to the ews/ecu ? correct me if am wrong , its my first BM cant be botherd or really afford to go get the key coded at BMW as ave been told its £100+ , a had the idea of just changing the ecu for a <94 ecu with no ews as beeing a track car and garaged a dont mind it not having any alarm or immobilser , what a need advice on is can a just swap my ecu for one from a <94 ecu that doesnt have an ews ? or is there away to keep my setup but bypass the ews ? any help would be greatly apprieciated and thanks in advance

If you take the ignition barrel out and keep the key taped to the immob receiver, you should be able to start the car with a wide flat head screwdriver.
If its a track car it wont need the most security on it, just slap a wheel clamp on the car when your not using it.

the bits the guy broke are the pick up ring and the ignition barrel

a have it turning over , cut and spliced the black/yellow wire and the green/black wire together

that lets it turn over but still no spark/fuel

a know the blue wire from the ews supplies the feed to the ecu , could u dummy a 12v feed to the ecu on the blue wire ?

ok a had a quick check today a have the m42 engine and ecu is bosch 0261203590 , could this ecu or the chip be swapped for any of the non ews ones from the m42 with the red label bosch ecu ?

hi, i am also having this problem. i brought a 318ti compact r reg 2 months ago the barrel just spun and spun but some times it latched on and i was able to start the car but now it just spins and spins.... the owner before had the imobilser removed ( ive had a look and it looks like its been disconnected and a few wires joined but it seemed to work ) i have stripped out the barrel ready for a new one but i needed to move that car so i put a screw driver in the back of the barrel and turned but the car will not start. it does every thing normal ( lights on the dash etc etc ) but the starter motor wont spin. . . . i have checked fuses and given the relays in the engine bay a nock incase they got stuck but still no luck.......any ideas?